Jackie Cooper

One of the most popular child actors in Hollywood history, Jackie Cooper won moviegoers' hearts as the adorable lead in such classic melodramas as "The Champ" (1931) and "Treasure Island" (1934). Unli...
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Showtime
Part of the appeal of Nurse Jackie is that the show is its moral ambiguity. For the first couple of seasons, antihero Jackie Peyton (Edie Falco) pops pills, breaks rules, neglects her family, but does whatever she can to save lives. However, the series has had a reckoning with Jackie hitting rock bottom multiple times. Was it when a guy she was using with almost died? Was it when she stole a bunch of pills and had a drug dealer after her? How about when her friend from rehab died? Or when she almost lost her kids? Try all of the above. But now she’s back to using. Not only is it sort of out of nowhere but it presents a confusing tone for the show.
When Nurse Jackie first started, the show was sort of a game of moral chicken. Jackie would get into all sort of illegal hijinks with audiences wondering if she’d get caught. But then the show forced her to 'fess up to all she’d done and atone for it. And this is the season that won Falco an Emmy. We have to wonder: is Jackie using again an attempt to get Falco another Emmy?
Last season ended with Jackie relapsing with her first pill in ages. Sure, it’s realistic that a drug addict would start using again. However, it’s a shocking choice to show Jackie, who was getting her life together, aggressively starting to use again without letting the audience get a feel for why. But she has always been an enigmatic character. It is challenging that we don’t really get to know why Jackie does what she does, but that’s probably some sort of huge subversive metaphor for drug addiction in general.
This season has woven some interesting twists into its characters. Jackie may be in the throes of drug use but at least she’s still going to meetings and found a sponsor, Antoinette (Julie White). White is a great no-nonsense voice and positive replacement for Jackie’s enabling friend Dr. O’Hara (Eve Best). Her daugher Grace (Ruby Jerins) is an addict as well, hooked on Aderall. The most interesting twist is having Dr. Cooper (Peter Facinelli) being more serious and mindful since turning 40. These changes are really upping the caliber of the characters on the show.
It’s a little disappointing that Jackie is using again because she didn’t get a chance to really explore sobriety. But it is great that everyone on the show is getting more serious while still retaining the sense of dark humor fans love. Here’s hoping we do get some insight into Jackie’s mind now that she has people like a sponsor to talk to and has a daughter that is using as well. Only time will tell but this season is definitely way more nail-biting than last.
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ABC Television Network
The future of Trophy Wife is unclear, but we can safely predict that its hilarious bombshell star Malin Akerman is going to be around for a long time. The Swedish/Canadian actress took on the infamous Reddit "Ask Me Anything" challenge on March 4 to answer fan queries about her current and former costars (a veritable who's who of contemporary comedy), her first reaction to her sitcom's title, and steering clear of boring "girlfriend" roles. Check out our favorite parts below and see the entire session here.
On the first thing she'd do if she were Matthew McConaughey for a day:"Take my shirt off!"
On what exactly Ben Stiller smells like:"A mix of Pine Cones and new car smell…that's if he hasn't had any Mexican food."
On working with the husband to her Trophy Wife, Bradley Whitford:"I'm officially Bradley's biggest fan after working with him. He is the biggest ham! So friggin funny. The best part is that when he is interviewed, so many people mistakenly call him Bradley Cooper and he never corrects them…he just rolls with it."
On the wackiest moment in her trip to White Castle with Harold and Kumar:"I had to lick Freakshow's (Chris Meloni) boils on our first day of shooting. Good way to ease into a role."
On holding out for the funny parts:"Not that I was offered this role, but had the chance to read The Hangover and decided to pass on the opportunity to go in for an audition. I preferred the male roles in the movie…something like Bridesmaids would have been awesome."
On her show's deceptively vapid title:"When I first saw the title of the show I said, 'Hell no! I do not want to play a vapid Trophy Wife,' but after reading the script, I realized that it was a tongue in cheek title and I absolutely loved it. From then on it was all about finding the right cast…and I feel like we hit a home run with our hilarious actors!"
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American Hustle and 12 Years A Slave are going head-to-head at the 2014 Golden Globe Awards after landing seven nominations each. The dramatic comedy will go up against Her, Inside Llewyn Davis, Nebraska and The Wolf of Wall Street for Best Motion Picture, Musical Or Comedy.
Its stars Christian Bale and Amy Adams scored a mention for Best Performance In A Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical), while Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper picked up nods for their supporting roles and David O. Russell landed a nomination for Best Director.
The film also picked up a Best Screenplay - Motion Picture nod.
Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave also landed seven nominations including Best Motion Picture, Drama, Best Performance Actor, Drama for Chiwetel Ejiofor, Best Supporting Actress for Lupita Nyong'o, Best Supporting Actor, Drama for Michael Fassbender, Best Director - Motion Picture for Steve McQueen, Best Screenplay - Motion Picture and Best Original Score - Motion Picture for Hans Zimmer.
In the TV categories, some of the small screen's biggest names are going head-to-head for the Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama. Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston, Ray Donovan's Liev Schreiber, Masters of Sex's Michael Sheen, House of Spades' Kevin Spacey and The Black List's James Spader are all nominated.
Meanwhile, The Good Wife's Julianna Margulies, Orphan Black's Tatiana Maslany, Orange is the New Black's Taylor Schilling, Scandal's Kerry Washington and House of Cards' Robin Wright all landed Best Actress in a TV series, Drama nods.
For the Best Television Series - Drama category Breaking Bad, Downton Abbey, The Good Wife, House of Cards and Masters of Sex will go up against each other.
Michael Douglas' and Matt Damon's Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra scored three nominations including Best TV Movie Or Mini-series and Best Actor in a TV Movie or Mini-Series for Damon and Douglas.
Lee Daniels' The Butler, which has landed several nominations for the 2014 Screen Actors Guild awards, was completely shut out of the competition.
The 71st Annual Golden Globe Awards, co-hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, will take place on 12 January (14) in Los Angeles.
The nominations were announced by actors Olivia Wilde, Aziz Ansari and Zoe Saldana in Beverly Hills, California on Thursday (12Dec13) and the complete list is as follows:
Best Motion Picture, Drama
12 Years a Slave
Captain Phillips
Gravity
Philomena
Rush
Best Actor In A Motion Picture, Drama
Chiwetel Ejiofor,12 Years a Slave
Idris Elba, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Robert Redford, All is Lost
Best Actress In A Motion Picture, Drama
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Judi Dench, Philomena
Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks
Kate Winslet, Labor Day
Best Director - Motion Picture
Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Alexander Payne, Nebraska
David O. Russell, American Hustle
Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
Spike Jonze, Her
Bob Nelson, Nebraska
Jeff Pope Steve, Philomena
John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave
David O. Russell and Eric Singer Warren, American Hustle
Best Motion Picture, Musical Or Comedy
American Hustle
Her
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska
Wolf of Wall Street
Best Actress In A Motion Picture, Musical Or Comedy
Amy Adams, American Hustle
Julie Delpy, Before Midnight
Greta Gerwig, Frances Ha
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Enough Said
Meryl Streep, August: Osage County
Best Actor In A Motion Picture, Musical Or Comedy
Christian Bale, American Hustle
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio, Wolf of Wall Street
Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis
Joaquin Phoenix, Her
Best Animated Feature film
The Croods
Despicable Me 2
Frozen
Best Foreign Language Film
Blue Is The Warmest Color (France)
The Great Beauty (Italy)
The Hunt (Denmark)
The Past (Iran)
The Wind Rises (Japan)
Best Supporting Actress In A Motion Picture
Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
June Squibb, Nebraska
Best Supporting Actor In A Motion Picture
Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Daniel Bruhl, Rush
Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
Best Original Score - Motion Picture
All Is Lost - Alex Ebert
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom - Alex Heffes
Gravity - Steven Price
The Book Thief - John Williams
12 Years a Slave - Hans Zimmer
Best Original Song - Motion Picture
Atlas, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Let It Go, Frozen
Ordinary Love, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Please Mr. Kennedy, Inside Llewyn Davis
Sweeter Than Fiction, One Chance
Best TV Series, Drama
Breaking Bad
Downton Abbey
The Good Wife
House of Cards
Masters of Sex
Best Actress in a TV series, Drama
Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife
Tatiana Maslany, Orphan Black
Taylor Schilling, Orange is the New Black
Kerry Washington, Scandal
Robin Wright, House of Cards
Best Actor in a TV series, Drama
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan
Michael Sheen, Masters of Sex
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards
James Spader, The Blacklist
Best TV Series, Comedy
The Big Bang Theory
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Girls
Modern Family
Parks and Recreation
Best Actress in a TV Series, Comedy
Zooey Deschanel, New Girl
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Lena Dunham, Girls
Julia Louis Dreyfus, Veep
Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation
Best Actor, TV Series Comedy
Jason Bateman, Arrested Development
Don Cheadle, House of Lies
Michael J. Fox, The Michael J. Fox Show
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Andy Samberg, Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Best TV Miniseries or Movie
American Horror Story: Coven
Behind the Candelabra
Dancing on the Edge
Top of the Lake
White Queen
Best Actress in a Mini-Series or TV Movie
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Coven
Helena Bonham Carter, Burton and Taylor
Rebecca Ferguson, The White Queen
Helen Mirren, Phil Spector
Elisabeth Moss, Top of the Lake
Best Actor in a Mini-Series or TV Movie
Matt Damon, Behind the Candelabra
Michael Douglas, Behind the Candelabra
Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dancing on the Edge
Idris Elba, Luther
Al Pacino, Phil Spector
Best Supporting Actress In A Series, Mini-Series, or TV Movie
Jacqueline Bisset, Dancing on the Edge
Janet McTeer, The White Queen
Hayden Panettiere , Nashville
Monica Potter, Parenthood
Sofia Vergara, Modern Family
Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Mini-Series or TV Movie
Josh Charles, The Good Wife
Rob Lowe, Behind the Candelabra
Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad
Corey Stoll, House of Cards
Jon Voight, Ray Donovan

The Emmys aren't usually praised for their adventurousness. Traditionally, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences will pick a few darlings (remember the Frasier years?) and nominate the hell out of them until they're off the air. This leaves little room to acknowledge the new, the fringe, or the emerging talent.
If the marquee category nominations are putting you to sleep, keep scrolling to get down to the fun stuff. The Guest Actor and Guest Actress categories inject a little life into the proceedings and remind us of some of the most campy, dramatic, hilarious, and yes — excellent — performances of the year.
In this year's Guest Actor in a Drama Category, the field includes two beloved stars who chewed scenery on The Good Wife (Nathan Lane and Michael J. Fox); Mad Men's stalwart senior partner Bert Cooper (Robert Morse) and new player Jim Cutler (Harry Hamlin); British dreamboat Rupert Friend as a CIA black-ops agent on Homeland; and as James Novak, the suspicious journalist threatening all the wheelers and dealers on Scandal, Dan Bucatinsky. For Guest Actress in a Drama, we have the formidable Margo Martindale on otherwise unrecognized spy drama The Americans; Dame Diana Rigg as the best mother-in-law in Westeros on Game of Thrones; another nod to The Good Wife, this time for Carrie Preston; Linda Cardellini as Don's mistress of the moment on Mad Men; Jane Fonda as the owner presiding over The Newsroom; and the ever-enjoyable Joan Cusack for Shameless.
In Comedy, the Guest Actor Category includes two standout Saturday Night Live hosts (Louis C.K. and Justin Timberlake); a living legend (Bob Newhart on The Big Bang Theory); more Nathan Lane, this time for Modern Family; Boardwalk Empire star Bobby Cannavale for his work on Nurse Jackie; and Will Forte for playing Jenna Maroney's boyfriend and impersonator on 30 Rock. Finally, Guest Actress in a Comedy shouts out Molly Shannon, sincere and hilarious on Enlightened; Dot-Marie Jones (Coach Beiste on Glee); Oscar winner Melissa Leo for an unforgettable appearance on Louie; Jack's guilt-tripping mother on 30 Rock (Broadway instituion Elaine Strich); and SNL hosts Melissa McCarthy (her second time out) and Kristen Wiig (her first since leaving the cast.)
Unfortunately, these awards aren't afforded a spot on the main broadcast, but are included in the untelevised Creative Arts Emmys. So, congratulations to Dan Bucatinsky, Carrie Preston, Bob Newhart, and Melissa Leo for besting their fellow nominees in that ceremony, which took place on Sunday, Sep. 15. We'll look forward to seeing tiny fractions of your acceptance speeches on the big show this coming Sunday.
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In his attempt to ensure that he has a movie released in almost every month of 2013, Dwayne Johnson hits the big screen again this weekend in Paramount's Pain &amp; Gain in 3,277 theaters. Thus far Johnson has appeared in February's Snitch, March's G.I. Joe: Retaliation and will next appear in May's Fast &amp; Furious 6. Johnson is quickly becoming the action movie go-to guy and will join Mark Wahlberg and Anthony Mackie in this weekend's R-rated, Michael Bay directed testosterone fest. Expectations are for a gross of around $20 million and this will put the film on a collision course with last weekend's number one film, Universal's Oblivion starring Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman. The PG-13 sci-fi adventure debuted with a better-than-expected $37 million and has dominated mid-week moviegoing building a cash reserve of over $45 million in N. America as it heads into the weekend. If Oblivion drops in the low 40% range it would wind up with $22 million in its second weekend and could therefore find itself in a tight matchup with Pain &amp; Gain. However, the advantage has to go to Wahlberg and Johnson as the newcomer chasing the male audience in this race.
SEE RELATED: 'Oblivion' Tops the Box Office, While '42' Slides Into Second
Third place will then go to another newcomer, The Big Wedding from Lionsgate which is expected to walk happily down the aisle in 2,633 theaters and wind up with a dowry in the low teen millions. The R-rated comedy stars Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Amanda Seyfried, Katherine Heigl and an all-star ensemble cast that will have strong appeal to older audiences seeking something brand new that is aimed squarely at them and not young males. With a fun premise and a solid marketing campaign this wedding should draw a nice crowd at the reception this weekend.
Fourth and fifth place will likely continue the one-two punch of Warner Bros.' excellent Jackie Robinson sports biopic 42, and Fox's ever-popular The Croods which has continued to take full advantage of the lack of family film competition in the marketplace. 42 could earn around $9 million and boost its revenues to close to $70 million by the end of the weekend while The Croods will remain impressive in its sixth weekend with over $6 million and a N. American total in the realm of $160 million by late Sunday.
Not to be left out is Focus Features' A Place Beyond the Pines which has shown enormous strength in its expanded release and has become a mid-week favorite jumping into the third place spot after finishing out last weekend in sixth place. The Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper pairing combined with a powerful marketing campaign is making this film an indie hit as it adds another 42 theaters this weekend for a total of 1,584 as it climbs toward $20 million in revenue.
This is the final weekend before the official kickoff of the 2013 Summer Movie Season when Disney's Iron Man 3 opens Friday, May 3. Luckily as of press time AMC Theaters has settled their dispute with Disney over a much-publicized battle over box office revenue splits for the film and though Regal and Cinemark have not yet worked out an agreement with Disney, the AMC deal bodes well for an agreeable settlement in the near future.
[Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures]

42, the inspiring true life story of baseball icon Jackie Robinson knocked it out of the park this weekend with a much better than expected $27.25 million. A 25% uptick on Saturday reflected great word-of-mouth for the film which was projected to earn in the high teen millions. Starring Harrison Ford as Brooklyn Dodger's exec Branch Rickey and the relatively unknown Chadwick Boseman as Robinson, the film is a riveting and hugely entertaining account of Robinson's personal and professional battles with peers, colleagues and the general public who were unwilling to accept an African-American ballplayer in the Major Leagues in 1940's America. Boseman is a revelation as Robinson and Ford chews up the scenery as Rickey along with Christopher Meloni (Law and Order: SVU, Oz) who is a standout as Dodger manager Leo Durocher and a great supporting cast including Alan Tudyk and John C. McGinley. Brian Helgeland (screenwriter of L.A. Confidential, Mystic River &amp; Man on Fire) directs from his own script. The film obviously had major crossover appeal beyond male sports-enthusiasts due to its civil rights and family-oriented themes along with a strong love story between Robinson and his wife. As such, the Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures release should continue to be a solid performer in the coming weeks.
RELATED: '42' &amp; 'Scary Movie 5' Set for Box Office Doubleheader!
The Weinstein Co.'s Dimension genre label released the fifth installment of the Scary Movie franchise and managed a franchise low debut of just $15.1 million. On the plus side is that with over $800 million in worldwide box office, the franchise has been a profit center for the distributor since its first installment was released in year 2000. Opening weekend's have ranged from a high of $48.1 million for 2003's Scary Movie 3 to a low of $20.5 million for the second installment, so this one is at the bottom end.
Holdovers rounded out the Top 5 as Fox's animated family hit The Croods in its fourth weekend is still performing well with a third place finish of $13.2 million and $142.5 million to date. In fouth place, Paramount/MGM's G.I. Joe: Retaliation grabbed another $10.8 million this weekend with $102.4 million to date and Sony/Tri-Star's horror hit and last weekend's number one movie Evil Dead came in fifth with $9.5 million against a 63% drop (typical for the horror genre) and $41.5 million to date.The incredible 3-D re-release of 1993's Jurassic Park which performed well last weekend and set records for IMAX chewed off another $8.8 million for sixth place and an impressive $31.9 million after ten days in theaters.Notably, Focus Features Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper drama The Place Beyond the Pines had a strong first expansion adding 484 theaters for a total of 514 and a tenth place finish with $4.079 million (a 480% boost over last weekend) an impressive per-theater average of $7,937 and $5.45 million thus far.The Summer Movie season looms large on the not-too-distant horizon with the debut of Disney/Marvel's Iron Man 3 on May 3 and it comes not a moment too soon with YTD revenues running 11.22% behind 2012 at this point.

In the real world, copying somebody else's written material for your own personal gain is called plagiarism. In the movie biz, it's called adaptation.
Since 1940, the Academy Awards have distinguished the adapted screenplay in its own category, honoring films whose scripts were derived primarily from books, plays, and short stories. But the occasional Best Adapted Screenplay nominee can credit its source to other media — such is the case for this year's nod, the true story thriller Argo.
Ben Affleck's directorial feature, written by Chris Terrio, was actually born from a WIRED magazine article by journalist and film producer Joshuah Bearman in 2007. The piece, titled "How the CIA Used a Fake Sci-Fi Flick to Rescue Americans from Tehran," was a chronicling of CIA operative Tony Mendez's unorthodox plan to retrieve a group of American diplomats from a hostage crisis in Iran in the late 1970s. Bearman penned the article following the declassification of the CIA documents describing the events.
Argo's company in this year's Best Adapted Screenplay category draw from more traditional sources: the scripts for Life of Pi and Silver Linings Playbook each comes from its eponymous novel, written by Yann Martel and Matthew Quick, Respectively; Steven Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner cite the nonfiction book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin as the source for their biopic Lincoln; and the story of Beasts of the Southern Wild writer/director Benh Zeitlin was inspired by his co-writer Lucy Alibar's own play, Juicy and Delicious. Heck, even Argo does accredit some hardcover material with the machination of its script alongside the aforementioned original article (Bearman's book The Great Escape, in which he expands on the topic, and Agent Mendez's own account of the event, his memoirs The Master of Disguise). The category has housed a great majority of projects with roots in the forms of book and play. But there are a handful of interesting outliers, spanning from 1931 all the way to the present...
Skippy (1931): Predating the separate Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Screenplay categories, the family-friendly Jackie Cooper starrer was adapted from the syndicated comic strip of the same name.
Mrs. Miniver (1942): The romantic drama about the dawn of World War II drew from a series of columns in Great Britain's The Times newspaper, wherein the titular character Kay Miniver was created.
Boomerang! (1947): The true story of this film noir was first chronicled in a Reader's Digest article by journalist Fulton Oursler (under the pen name Anthony Abbot).
Marty (1955):The classic romantic drama was the first of several films to be adapted from a teleplay — Paddy Chayefsky wrote both the big and small screen versions of the story.
I Want to Live! (1958): Another film noir drawn from true events, this film extrapolated its story about a woman on death row from letters penned by the basis and namesake for its main character, Barbara Graham. A second source for the movie came from a collection of newspaper articles from journalist Ed Montgoomery.
Lawrence of Arabia (1962): The life of British Army officer T.E. Lawrence was chronicled in this classic epic, thanks to the adaptation of the collective writings from the hero himself.
Pennies from Heaven (1981): Ever since Marty, a handful of films has earned nominations for adapting television movies to film; this was the first, however, to earn a nod for adapting a television miniseries (the 1978 BBC drama of the same name).
The Insider (1999): Another film drawn from a magazine article, this time from Marie Brenner's Vanity Fair piece "The Man Who Knew Too Much," about tobacco industry whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand, played in the film by Russell Crowe.
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000): Classing up the list a bit is this Coen Brothers comedy, which adapted its script from Homer's epic poem The Odyssey.
Ghost World (2001): The first film to earn a nomination for a script adapted from a graphic novel came from Daniel Clowes, who turned his own comic book Ghost World into this comedy-drama.
Shrek (2001): In the same year, this blockbuster animated film pioneered the category's nomination of a script with another type of source: picture book (William Steig's Shrek!).
American Splendor (2002): The brilliant comedic biopic drew its material from the works of subject Harvey Pekar and his wife and fellow comic book author Joyce Brabner (American Splendor and Our Cancer Years, respectively).
Before Sunset (2004): Richard Linklater's screenplay was considered an adaptation, due to its use of characters from the preceding film Before Sunrise, which was written by Linklater and Kim Krizan.
A History of Violence (2005): Another graphic novel adaptation — screenwriter John Olson brought John Wagner and Vincent Locke's A History of Violence to screen with this picture.
Borat (2006): It might surprise you to recall that the Academy recognized this bawdy film with a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination; the film was considered an adaptation of the character developed by Sacha Baron Cohen for his small screen venture, Da Ali G Show.
In the Loop (2009): In the same vein, Armando Iannucci transported his The Thick of It hero Malcolm Tucker to the big screen in this satirical film.
District 9 (2009): Cutting it a little close to home, this sci-fi drama/parable for human intolerance and oppression was actually adapted from another movie — a short film titled Alive in Joburg.
Toy Story 3 (2010): Borrowing the characters from the original Toy Story, a new assortment of screenwriters vied for the Oscar in this magnificent threequel.
[Photo Credit: Warner Bros; Fine Line Features]
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Silver Linings Playbook made history when the Oscar nominations were announced in Los Angeles on Thursday (10Jan13) - it became the first film to land nods in all four acting categories since Reds in 1981. Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Jackie Weaver all landed nominations, while the film picked up a Best Picture nod and David O. Russell scored a Best Director mention.

Starred in films "Skippy" and "The Champ"; earned Best Actor Oscar nomination for the former

Played Sally Field's father in TV-movie "Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring"

Directed Bette Davis in TV-movie "White Mama"

Was regular on "Mobile One"

Made film debut in Lloyd Hamilton comedy short

Played TV programming executive in feature film "The Love Machine"

Starred on TV series "The People's Choice"; also directed episodes

Directed 13 episodes of TV series "M*A*S*H"; won Emmy Award

Made TV-movie acting debut, "Shadow on the Land"

Hosted "The Dean Martin Comedy World" (NBC)

Named Vice President in Charge of TV Program Production, Columbia Pictures

Played editor Perry White in first of four "Superman" feature films

Made first "Our Gang" short

Played Jim Hawkins in "Treasure Island"

Starred on TV series "Hennessey" (CBS)

Film directing debut, "Stand Up and Be Counted"

Appeared as Ensign Pulver in London production of "Mr. Roberts"

Summary

One of the most popular child actors in Hollywood history, Jackie Cooper won moviegoers' hearts as the adorable lead in such classic melodramas as "The Champ" (1931) and "Treasure Island" (1934). Unlike many of his fellow juvenile players, he enjoyed a bountiful career as an adult in both the acting and directing fields. Cooper was a box office draw as a boy thanks to his All-American looks and ability to produce gallons of tears upon command. After falling out of favor as a teen, he returned to the business in his thirties as an in-demand player on television. Directing for shortform TV became a second career in the 1960s, as did a stint as an executive for Screen Gems; he divided his time between acting gigs in films like "Superman: The Movie" (1978) with directing and producing assignments until the late 1980s. Cooper's trove of family films from his child days, and his vast body of work as an adult, made him one of the longest-running success stories in Hollywood.<p>One could say that John Cooper, Jr. was born into the movie business. His father, John Cooper, was a publicist, while his extended family included uncles Norman Taurog, a well-regarded director, and screenwriter Jack Leonard, as well as his aunt, actress Julie Leonard. Cooper's father abandoned the family just two years after his son was born in Los Angeles on Sept. 15, 1922, and his mother, former child actress Mabel Leonard Polito, married studio production manager C.J. Bigelow, which furthered his connection to the industry. His grandmother brought Cooper along with him on auditions for extra work, which led to him working as a background player. Blessed with a generous grin, pinchable cheeks and a shock of blond hair, he was soon playing bit roles in short comedies before graduating to the "Our Gang" series in 1929. Originally slated as a supporting character, his natural screen presence elevated him to lead status, most notably in the shorts that dealt with his overwhelming crush on June Marlowe's schoolteacher, Miss Crabtree.<p>In 1931, Cooper was loaned to Paramount to star in "Skippy," a tear-jerking melodrama based on a popular comic strip. The film, directed by his Uncle Norman, pulled mercilessly at audiences' heartstrings in its story of a young boy (Cooper) who loses his beloved dog, which produced the ocean of tears that became Cooper's trademark. According to the actor, Taurog was instrumental in generating the emotional outburst by telling his star that he had killed the dog in real life. Audiences were floored by the nine-year-old Cooper's performance, which earned him an Academy Award nomination and the record as the youngest actor to receive such an honor in film history. Now ensconced at MGM, Cooper starred in a series of melodramas which placed him in Dickensian scenarios that would inevitably result in a flood of weeping; "When A Fellow Needs a Friend" (1931) cast him as a handicapped boy struggling to be accepted as "normal," while "Divorce in the Family" saw him as the prize between two competitive and highly insensitive fathers. Moviegoers could not get enough of Cooper's cinematic travails, which made him one of the top stars of the early 1930s. Dubbed "America's Boy" by the MGM press machine, he was featured in countless advertising campaigns, dined with then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and was the idol of millions of adolescent girls and (presumably jealous) boys.<p>The key films from this period of Cooper's career were his collaborations with character actor Wallace Beery. Their first picture together, the boxing drama "The Champ" (1931), told the story of a broken-down fighter (Beery) attempting to redeem himself in the eyes of his son (Cooper), who loves him unconditionally. The film's final moments, in which the camera was literally thrust into Cooper's face as he wept over Beery's death, remained a high water mark in movie melodrama for years, and firmly established both actors as box office gold. They would go on to star in several more films, including a much-loved adaptation of "Treasure Island" (1934) with Beery as Long John Silver and Cooper as Jim Hawkins. Movie goers believed in the special chemistry between the two actors, but in real life, Beery treated Cooper with disdain and upstaged him whenever possible during production.<p>Cooper's star began to wane at the tail end of the 1930s. Now entering his teens, he was no longer the baby-faced juvenile of his early films. He had in fact worked hard to escape that label through rigorous exercise, which produced an impressive physique for publicity photos, and promotional scenarios that pictured him on the arm of numerous teen starlets, including Judy Garland and Deanna Durbin. He attempted to segue into tough kid roles, but audiences preferred him as the Nice Young Man in pictures like "What a Life" (1939), as the soppy Henry Aldrich, or teen romances like "That Certain Age" (1938), which featured his first screen kiss courtesy of Durbin. There were occasional opportunities to show his range, such as in the Western "The Return of Frank James" (1940) with Henry Fonda, and the fun jazz musical "Syncopation" (1942), but by the mid-1940s, Cooper's career as the male Shirley Temple was largely over.<p>He joined the U.S. Navy and served during World War II, eventually reaching the rank of captain. Upon his return to civilian life, he found it difficult to land movie roles, and by 1948, was without a studio contract for the first time in nearly two decades. Faced with the daunting fact that he was untrained to do anything outside of acting, he headed for New York to try his hand at stage work. There, he made his debut in a 1949 production of "Magnolia Alley." The popular comedy-drama "Mister Roberts" kept him busy for the next few years; he played Ensign Pulver in the American touring production and then in the London production in 1951.<p>Television was also Cooper's steady medium through the 1950s. He appeared in nearly every major anthology drama of the period, including multiple episodes of "Studio One" (CBS, 1948-1958) and "Robert Montgomery Presents" (NBC, 1950-57). The constant exposure helped to dispel the image of Cooper as the lachrymose boy of yesteryear, replacing it with a capable and versatile character actor and occasional lead whose performances were marked by a surprising caginess and energy. In 1955, he developed his first network series, "The People's Choice" (NBC, 1955-58), a quirky drama about a tough city councilor who butts heads with the mayor while dating his daughter (Pat Breslin). The show's gimmick was Cooper's basset hound, which frequently spoke in asides to the audience, but not her cast mates. Popular with viewers, "People's Choice" netted Cooper two Emmy nominations for Best Actor, and launched his second career as a television director. Its premature cancellation sent Cooper back to the drawing board for his second series, "Hennessey" (NBC, 1959-1962), a comedy-drama about life at the U.S. Naval Station in San Diego that netted two more Emmy nods for Cooper.<p>The oddball comedy "Everything's Ducky" (1961) marked Cooper's first movie appearance in over a decade, but the return would be short-lived. In 1964, he was appointed to Vice President of Program Development for Screen Gems, better known as Columbia Pictures' television division. The position saw Cooper packaging series and TV movies for the networks, including "Bewitched" (ABC, 1964-1972). He was off the big and small screens for nearly the entire run of his executive career, save for one television movie, the futuristic thriller "Shadow on the Land" (ABC, 1968). After leaving Columbia in 1969, Cooper divided his time between directing for episodic television and acting for the small screen, with occasional returns to features. The most successful of the latter was his turn as the irascible Perry White, editor of the <i>Daily Planet</i> in Richard Donner's "Superman: The Movie" (1978) and its sequels, "Superman II" (1980), "Superman III" (1983) and "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" (1987). He was a last-minute replacement for actor Keenan Wynn, who suffered a heart attack shortly before filming began. He also tackled the news business in "Mobile One" (ABC, 1975), a short-lived drama from Jack Webb about a TV news crew that marked his final attempt at a network series.<p>As a director, Cooper won two Emmys for his work on "M*A*S*H" (CBS, 1972-1983) and the pilot episode of "The White Shadow" (CBS, 1978-1981). He also helmed multiple episodes of some of the most popular shows of the 1970s and 1980s, including "The Rockford Files" (NBC, 1973-1980), "Magnum, P.I." (CBS, 1980-88) and "Cagney and Lacey" (CBS, 1982-88). He began directing features for television with 1972's "Keep the Faith" (CBS), with Bert Convy and Howard Da Silva as squabbling rabbis, but graduated to more substantive work in the 1980s like the Emmy-nominated "White Mama" (CBS, 1980) with Bette Davis, and "Rosie: The Rosemary Clooney Story" (CBS, 1982) with Sondra Locke in the title role. He directed just one theatrical feature, "Stand Up and Be Counted" (1972), a comedy about the women's equality movement with Jacqueline Bisset that failed at the box office.<p> In 1982, Cooper released <i>Please Don't Shoot My Dog</i>, a no-holds barred autobiography which revealed the truth about his working relationship with Beery, a wild romance with Joan Crawford while still in his teens, and escapades on the seedier side of Tinseltown. Cooper continued to act and direct until 1989, when he announced his retirement to train and race horses. As late as 2006, he was a frequent interview subject on documentaries and television specials about his days as a child actor, as well as the Golden Age of Hollywood and the many projects with which he was associated. The beloved actor passed away at age 88 in Beverly Hills on May 3, 2011, only a month after good friend and fellow MGM contract player Elizabeth Taylor also passed.

Name

Role

Comments

John Cooper

Father

Left family when Cooper was two years old

Christina Cooper

Daughter

Mother, Barbara Kraus

Julie Cooper

Daughter

Mother, Barbara Kraus; died of a massive stroke at age 39 in September 1997